• Larus novæ hollandiæ, Stephens, Shaw’s Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. i. p. 196 (1826), ex Latham.

• Larus jamesonii, Wilson, Ill. Zool. pl. xxiii. (1831).

• Larus scopulinus, var, major, Forst. Descr. Anim. p. 106 (1844).

• Xema jamesonii, Gould, Birds of Australia, vol. vii. pl. xx. (1848, nec Wils.).

• Gavia jamesonii, Wils. Bruch, J. f. Oru. 1853, p. 102, et 1855, p. 285.

• Gavia andersonii, Bruch, J. f. Orn. 1853, p. 102, et 1855, p. 285.

• Gavia pomarre, Bruch, J. f. Orn. 1853, p. 103 (not Gavia pomare of 1855, p. 285).

• Gelastes gouldi, Bp. Naumann. 1854, p. 216.

• Gelastes corallinus, Bp. tom. cit. pp. 212, 216.

• Gelastes andersonii, Bp. tom. cit. p. 212.

• Gavia gouldii, Bp. Bruch, J. f. Orn. 1855, p. 285.

• Bruchigavia gouldi, Bp. Consp. Av. ii. p. 228 (1857).

• Bruchigavia pomare, Bp. tom. cit. p. 228 (1857).

• Bruchigavia jamesonii, Bp. tom. cit. p. 228 (1857).

• Bruchigavia corallinus, Bp. tom. cit. p. 228 (1857).

• Larus scopulinus major, Schlegel, M. P.-Bas, Larinæ, p. 29 (1863).

• Bruchigavia jamesonii, Gould, Handb. B. of Austral. ii. p. 387 (1865).

• Larus scopulinus, Huttou, Cat. Birds of N. Z. pp. 40, 78 (1871).

Native name.—Tarapunga.

Ad. similis L. scopulino, sed primariis aliter notatis distinguendus.

Adult. This form differs from Larus scopulinus only in having the bill, which is somewhat narrower, together with the legs and feet pale brown instead of being arterial red, and in the different markings of the primaries, which are as follows: the first primary is black, with a subapical hatchet-shaped mark of white, and a white tip; the second and third have a narrow, somewhat irregular, elliptical mark of white, and a conspicuous white tip; on the succeeding primaries the black progressively diminishes, but on the sixth it is reduced to two approximating spots on the opposite webs, divided by a white shaft-line.

Variety. The Otago Museum contains a very perfect albino, obtained near Dunedin, and presented by Mr. J. C. Fulton: bill and feet pale yellowish brown.

Obs. It ought to be noted that the white markings on the primaries are somewhat inconstant, and taken alone would be an insufficient criterion for distinguishing the species. In an apparently fully adult specimen which I examined at Dunedin there was an insignificant white mark on the first and second primaries, and all the rest were black, answering pretty nearly to Mr. Saunders’s figure of the first three quills in the young of Larus novæ hollandiæ.

Mr. Howard Saunders, in his revision of the Larinæ (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 187), says:— “Although very close to L. scopulinus of New Zealand, I think this species may fairly be distinguished page 62 by its larger size throughout, and by the greater amount of white mirror in the pattern of the three outer primaries.” My experience of the species does not exactly accord with this; for in all the specimens I have examined the size has not exceeded that of L. scopulinus, whilst the bill has been slightly narrower. As will be seen from my descriptive notes above, the markings on the primaries are somewhat variable, and therefore too inconstant, taken alone, to serve as a specific character. It appears to me that the pale brown colour of the bill and feet, which in the other species are arterial red all the year through, affords the safest criterion for distinguishing this bird.

All the examples of this Gull I have hitherto met with have been collected on the Otago coast, in the southern portion of the colony.

Mr. Saunders has courteously placed at my disposal the woodcuts by means of which he demonstrated the differences in the primaries of the three allied species: